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The LIBRARY File Metadata Form
The LIBRARY File Metadata Form

Everything that you need to know about the Library metadata form

David Handel, MD avatar
Written by David Handel, MD
Updated over a week ago

Watch this video for the most up-to-date demo about the metadata form.

Whenever you add a new item to your iDoRecall (iDR) LIBRARY, the first thing that you see before the actual item is uploaded or added to your library is the item's metadata form.

Library file metadata form

While you may choose to simply click the SAVE button at the bottom of the form and complete the upload, you should be aware of the editable options available to you.

The top field initially is the name/title of the file as seen in the file system on your device. If the item is media hosted on a third-party site, the title will be what is used there. Feel free to edit this field to reflect the name that you would like to see in your LIBRARY list.

The 2nd field is the usual iDR tags widget. We strongly encourage you to add tag(s) to your library items you start reading/watching them and creating linked recalls. Linked recalls automatically inherit in their tags widget any tags that exist on the source file or video. It is a best practice to add the tags at the time of upload using the metadata form so that you don't miss this opportunity.

The third field is the due date for the file/video. This date is the deadline that you can and should establish for yourself as a commitment when you will be finished processing the library item. By processing, we mean the act of reading, watching, or listening to the content AND creating all your desired linked recalls covering all of the facts, concepts, formulas, and other nuggets of knowledge that you want to remember. When you have finished processing the item. You should mark it as processed. We'll show you how to do that below.

It is very easy to upload a bunch of files and add a lot of videos to your library but never get around to processing them. This can lead to a loss of self-esteem and a well-earned sense of being non-productive. If you set a deadline, we will show you which items are coming due in the UI of the LIBRARY (see below).

If you opt-in for email and browser notifications, we'll alert you once a day when individual library items are coming due.

By default, we set a due date for each new library item to two weeks in the future but we encourage you to customize this date.

If you are uploading multiple files at the same time, you will see and page through one metadata form after another, one for each file, until you have saved them all. Then the multi-file upload will complete.

You can edit the metadata form at any time if you want to make a change. To open a metadata form for an item that is already in your library, open the file or video by clicking it in the library list. Then click the gear icon on the far right in the header of the file viewer panel. The metadata form will subsequently open. You can also mouse over any item in the library list and the gear icon will appear.

Let's take a closer look at the metadata edit form. Notice that it has a few more items than the form seen at the time of file upload.

the iDoRecall  metadata form

You can change the title. add/remove tags, change the deadline date, share the file or video with a group, mark the file as processed (see below), immediately take all of the linked recalls associated with the file into a practice session, or initiate deletion of the file from your account. If you believe that some of the source links for the lined recalls to the file are broken, you can repair them. with the "check source links integrity." Don't forget to click the SAVE EDITS button at the bottom in order to save your changes.


When you view your library list you can see the urgency of upcoming due dates for the completion of files.

The color of the icons for each item in the list indicates its urgency.

  1. RED icons indicate that the file or video has either a deadline that has either passed or is due within 48 hours.

  2. ORANGE YELLOW indicates that the file or video with a deadline in the next 2-7 days.

  3. GRAY indicates that the file or video has either a deadline in >7 days

The color of the library item icons indicates the urgency of their due dates

All about Marked as processed

When you finish consuming your file or media, and you have created all of the recalls that you need to remember the important facts, concepts, and nuggets of knowledge, you should mark the file as processed. One way to do that was demonstrated above, namely, opening the file's metadata form to mark it as processed. An easier way is to select the file in the library list and then use the bulk action tool seen under the search box: Mark as processed.

After you mark an item as processed, it is moved to the archive seen in the tags panel, Processed items.

The Processed items archive at the bottom of the left tags panel

You can click that archive and all of your process items will be filtered in the list. If you want, you can select any that you want to mark unprocessed to return them to the main library list. If you select any, the bulk actions. will appear. Click Mark as processed and you will be given the option to mark unprocessed.

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